Classical philosophy and Darwinian biology are far more compatible than is usually assumed. In fact, looking at either from the standpoint of the other can enrich and deepen our appreciation of both. From a Darwinian point of view, the theories of Plato and Aristotle deserve to be taken very seriously. From the classical point of view, Darwinian biology is much less reductionist than its enemies suppose.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Evolution of Virtue 5

Here is the conclusion of my paper. I note that notes are coming. I also have inserted a lengthy bit from one of my previous posts on Julie Annas' excellent book, Intelligent Virtue.

Skills
such as painting, piano playing, and writing do not exist because they were
selected for.They emerge out of the
wide palette of natural powers, appetites, and passions that were selected
for.The same is true of the
virtues.Our ability to feel love,
anger, guilt, and compassion, among other moral emotions, are clearly based on
common, heritable schema‑evolved psychological mechanisms as they are called in
evolutionary psychology.Just as
painting depends on a spectrum of colors visible to the human eye, so virtue
depends on a spectrum of moral emotions each of which may be adjusted in a
number of ways.When we ask what excellence
is when it comes to bravery, we are not asking what kind of fear and response
to fear are best for our genes; we are seeking what kind of soul is best for a
good human life.The moral dimension
emerges as a tangent to the direct of human evolution.

Aristotle
attempted to understand moral virtues by grounding them in a biological account
of animal souls.Modern biology makes it
possible for us to continuing deepening and broadening that account.This approach as the benefit that it corrects
one of the most common criticisms of Darwinian theory: that it is reductionist
and thus destructive of human nobility.The opposite is true.Only by
appreciating what is selected for can we fully appreciate what is beautiful and
good beyond the dimensions of natural selection.At the same time, this approach tells us
something very interesting about the natural world out of which all living
things emerge: it had within it, from the very beginning, the potential for
producing irreducible beauty.